Judy Yang and Shih-Hsun Huang Talk Water
Assistant Professor Judy Yang and Ph.D. candidate Shih-Hsun Huang will talk about their research and how it how it may help ecologists design more effective stream restoration projects to ensure safe drinking water and fishery products. They are using innovative methods to study how vegetation enhances the exchange of water, solutes, and particles between surface water and sediment/groundwater.
Streams deliver fresh drinking water, provide habitats for aquatic animals, and exchange water with underlying sediment and groundwater. Preserving the health of streams is vital to ensure safe drinking water and fishery products, yet many streams are degraded and contaminated. Projects to restore streams cost over a billion dollars per year in the U.S. However, the environmental impacts of many restoration strategies, such as replanting vegetation, have not been fully understood. Yang and Huang's research will help us understand.
This webinar is hosted by the Minnesota Water Research Fund as a part of its mission to educate our community about exciting water research at the University of Minnesota.
About the Speakers
Judy Yang, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering (CEGE)
Assistant Professor Yang leads CEGE’s Environmental Transport Lab (ET-Lab) which studies the transport of water, soil, chemicals, and bacteria in nature. The ET-Lab uses flumes, microfluidics, and other experiments to simulate a complex natural environment. Faculty and student researchers apply fluid mechanics and biogeochemistry to understand and predict sediment transport and landscape evolution, contaminants and carbon transport in soil, as well as bacterial spreading. Yang teaches courses on Fluid Mechanics and the Science and Engineering of Streams. Yang earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to coming to Minnesota, she was a postdoctoral scholar at Princeton University.
Shih-Hsun Huang, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering (CEGE)
Shih-Hsun Huang is interested in designing laboratory flume experiments, including developing refractive index matched methods and dye visualization techniques, to quantify the transport of water, contaminants, and sediment in aquatic ecosystems. His research focuses on the impact of in-stream wood and vegetation on the transport of water, chemicals, and fine particles in aquatic ecosystems. Huang earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from National Taiwan University.
About the Minnesota Water Research Fund
The Minnesota Water Research Fund provides research support for faculty and students of the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering working in water resources management and water treatment. Even as the research conducted solves current and emerging water quality problems, the Minnesota Water Research Fund also helps train students – the engineers and scientists for tomorrow’s water management and treatment industries. To learn more or to get involved, visit the Minnesota Water Research Fund website